Irish eyes were smiling on Saturday night at the TD Bank Boston Garden’s “Night at the Fights” in Boston, MA as nearby Framingham native, Danny “Bhoy” O’Connor (20-0, 7KOs) defeated Quincy, MA native Derek Silveira (8-1, 4 KOs) by ten round majority decision in a catch weight bout of 145 pounds. Scores of the bout were 100-89 and 97-93 for O’Connor while the third judge scored the fight even 95-95. O’Connor utilized his power and ring generalship to control the tempo of the fight, while Silveira used his speed to try and counter but in most cases get out of trouble and away from his opponent. The fight card was promoted by DiBella Entertainment in association with Warriors Boxing.

Both fighters were throwing punches at a fast and furious rate early in the first round. The IBF #15 and WBC #22 ranked light welterweight contender O’Connor connected with a solid right hook on Silveira. Silveira countered with a left hook of his own as he was moving around the ring. O’Connor stood in the middle of the ring and after blocking a punch from Silveira, he countered with a solid right at the end of the round that had the crowd on its feet.

O’Connor continued to put on the pressure in round two. He used his power to continually back Silveira into the ropes and corners. This enabled him to be able to tee off with lefts and rights that had Silveira in trouble. Silveira used his jab and speed to get out of the corner and then keep a safe distance from his opponent, however he was caught with a solid right from O’Connor that caused Silveira to bleed from his nose in round three.

During the middle rounds, O’Connor continued to maintain control of the fight, while Silveira continued to circle him and look for an opening. Silveira was throwing wild shots at O’Connor and connecting with some as he was more successful landing to the body. O’Connor maintained his jab and worked hard hook combinations off of it.

Silveira was able to stand his ground despite his opponent’s power by continuously moving around the ring to avoid getting caught in the corner. His best offense was when he was able to land well to the body of O’Connor. By round six it appeared that O’Connor was beginning to slow down from Silveira’s body attack, from the accumulation of body punches and fatigue. From the jabs that O’Connor had landed, Silveira’s left eye began to swell.

However O’Connor in round seven was able to recover well and landed a solid right hook that sent Silveira reeling. O’Connor jumped on him and began throwing a barrage of punches, but Silveira was able to clinch and get the break from referee Bob Benoit. Silveira was able to land again to the body of his opponent but this time was met again with another solid right hook from O’Connor.

O’Connor controlled the tempo of the remainder of the fight as Silveira could not get in close enough to land, which caused Silveira to begin lunging forward to throw punches. This opened up several combination opportunities for O’Connor which continued to stagger his his opponent, but to his credit, Silveira hung in there and fought to a decision, which unfortunately for him, was not in his favor. This is the first professional loss in Derek Silveira’s short professional career.

“I expected a fight tonight. He was really a lot tougher than I thought he was going to be. You know it’s the Boston Garden and I knew he was coming to fight,” said O’Connor after the fight. “ I got a lot of respect for him. I knew he was going to be a tough opponent, that is why I chose him to fight. I wanted a fight where there the fans would be excited for the first fight back at the Boston Garden and I think he was the perfect opponent.”

In preparation for this fight, O’Connor said, “I have watched tapes on him. I do what I usually do. I train really hard and its unfortunate that coach Ronnie (Shields) wasn’t able to be here. It was an adjustment seeing Edwin (Rodriguez) coming back to the corner but it’s my dream come true and I am happy that it ended the way that I wanted it to.”

When asked by FightNews if he surprised by the speed of Silveira, O’Connor said, “No, no I knew that he was a good fighter. I knew he was fast. I have seen him fight before. I came through the amateurs with him and I have a lot of respect for him,”

“I was trying to get him out of there. I wanted to knock him out and sometimes when you try too hard, it just doesn’t come. I was looking for the knockout and I wasn’t letting it come and that is just something that being home in front of my fans and me being excited,” said O’Connor after being asked why he was sitting down on his punches.

When asked about his future plans, O’Connor said, "I got to go and hug my wife who I have not seen in five months, she is my rock and also my sons, who I have not seen in four months. Spend some time with my family and then I will be back in the gym on Monday. I am going to speak with my manager Ken Casey and coach Ronnie Shields and figure out where we go from here.”

Kielczewski Stops Hago

Unbeaten lightweight Ryan “The Polish Prince” Kielczewski (15-0, 3 KOs) kept his perfect record in tact as he stopped Washington Hago (5-5, 3 KOs) at 48 seconds of round two. Kielczewski knocked Hago down twice in round two with body shots that prompted the corner of Hago to throw in the towel.
Kielczewski had the height and reach advantage and landed a hard right hook early on Hago. Hago continued to take hard punches from his opponent. Kielczewski was relentless to the body of his opponent.
In round two Kielczewski the first knockdown was from a left body shot that caused Hago to put one glove on the canvas and fall down to one knee. He was able to get up after the standing eight count. Kielczewski again jumped on the body of Hago and landed another two body shots to his opponent. Hago was knocked down to the canvas by the body shot combination from Kielczewski.
Hago was once again able to recover and get to his feet, however his corner jumped up on the ring apron and threw in the towel. Hago was upset that his trainer threw in the towel as he continued to tell his trainer that he was fine. His trainer however disagreed. The stoppage gives Kielczewski his third professional knockout.

Traft Decisions Powers

The pro debut of Connecticut’s Joe Powers (0-1) was spoiled by Dorchester, MA native Billy Traft (3-0, 1 KO). Traft defeated Powers after he scored a unanimous decision in a four round light heavyweight match up. Scores of the bout in favor of Traft were 40-36 twice and 39-37.
Powers worked to setup a nice jab early, however Traft began throwing power punches early and put the pressure on Powers. Powers was able to land a nice combination late in the first round.
Both Traft and Powers began brawling in the second round. Powers landed a left right combination to the head of Traft. This must have been a wake up call for Traft as he landed several powerful combinations on his opponent that had him reeling, much to the delight of the crowd.
Traft was in full control in the final round as he used his reach to out land Powers. Powers was on the defensive and not able to throw many punches late. He was unable to stop Traft from landing his right hook throughout which gave him the unanimous decision victory.

Lamour Decisions Viramontes

Russell Lamour (2-0, 1 KO) dominated Luis Viramontes (3-1-1, 1 KO) over four rounds to score a unanimous decision in the middleweight division. All three judges scored the bout a shutout for Lamour 40-36.
Viramontes, who hasn’t fought in almost five years, used his jab to keep Lamour away from him early. Lamour connected with three straight lefts on his opponent late in the first. Lamour came out very aggressive in round two. He put the pressure on and connected with several hooks to the head of Viramontes.
Viramontes was able to slow things down in the third round but was still out landed by Lamour.
In the final round, Lamour again applied the strong pressure on his opponent that had Viramontes in trouble late in the fight. Had Lamour continued to apply the strong pressure in rounds two and four throughout the fight, he would have put Viramontes away. With the decision victory, Lamour captured the second victory of his professional career.

The fight card also featured several amateur fights that were sponsored by USA Boxing.